Google to Extend Reach With Venture-Capital Arm — Ex-Entrepreneur Hired To Assist in Setup; Brand-Name Advantage — Google Inc. is working on plans to start a venture-capital arm, according to several people briefed on the discussions. — The group will be lead by David Drummond …

Google To Launch Venture Fund — The WSJ is reporting that Google is set to launch a venture fund to give it the option of investing in startups instead of just flat out buying them. The fund will be led by Google's SVP Corporate Development David Drummond and Bill Maris …

Motorola ekes out small profit — Motorola (MOT) shares surged in premarket trading Thursday after the struggling tech titan posted a minuscule second-quarter profit in spite of the latest sales decline at its handset unit. The Schaumburg, Ill.-based company made $4 million …

Facebook Launches News Feed Filters - First Look — It's been nearly two years since Facebook's News Feed launched. Tonight, Facebook is turning on the first major change to the News Feed user experience: News Feed filters. — News Feed filters are tabs at the top of the News Feed that allow you to view stories of only one type.

Watchdog clears Google's street cameras — Google's controversial Street View service - which will offer ground-level pictures of every UK street online -can finally be launched in Britain, after a privacy watchdog said it had no complaints about the service.

Britain Clears The Way For Google Street Views — Watchdog clears Google's street cameras from The Guardian reports Britain's Information Commissioner's Office has officially given their approval over the privacy risks with the Street Views option in Google Maps.

LG Electronics Device To Deliver Movies Online — South Korea's LG Electronics Inc. will soon offer a device that plays high definition Blu-ray movies along with video streamed over the Internet from Netflix Inc., the latest move by Netflix to deliver movie rentals online rather than through the mail.

YouTube and Omnisio Join Forces — As you probably guessed, we're big fans of anything that lets people interact with online video and gives the YouTube community the chance to express themselves in creative ways. New features such as Video Annotations, which allow you to insert comments …

“The Mojave Experiment:” Bad Science, Bad Marketing — I guess I should first admit I hate the show Punk'd. I mean, here's a guy who is famous for lying about his age so he seems hipper, telling us that his show's purpose it to deflate the big egos on other stars, and show them what truly matters in life.

HOW BIG IS THE FREE ECONOMY? — Here's a question I get all the time: how big is the free economy? That's harder to answer than you might think, for both definition and measurement reasons. But here's a first past at doing it anyway. — (Note: I'm just using US figures below, unless marked otherwise)

Newspapers Think Locally for Online Ads — Sales Efforts Increase, But ‘Smaller Dollars’ Prove Hard to Chase — In an effort to make up for their plunging print-ad revenues, newspaper companies have been scrambling to train their sales teams in the intricacies of selling online ads to local marketers.

Transit directions: Now on S60 & Windows Mobile — A few weeks ago we released Google Maps for mobile with Transit directions for BlackBerry and Java-based handsets. Now, with the release of version 2.2 of the application for Symbian S60 (3rd edition or later) and Windows Mobile (2005 or later) …

Google: “Complete Privacy Does Not Exist” — Defending “Street View” lawsuit, firm says trespasses to be expected — Arguing that technology has ensured that “complete privacy does not exist,” Google contends that a Pennsylvania family has no legal grounds to sue the search giant …

The Pirate Bay Now Supports Tagging — The Pirate Bay has rolled out a new feature which allows users to add tags to the torrents they upload. The tags will make it easier to structure and discover new content, and it gives users the opportunity to form tag based groups.

Yahoo shareholders meeting a case of deja vu? — Believe in deja vu? Yahoo shareholders may when they file into the company's annual shareholders meeting on Friday. — Last year, an angry mob of investors took Yahoo's CEO to task at the company's annual shareholders meeting …